By Purvi Agarwal and Shashwat Chauhan
(Reuters) -U.S. stock index futures were subdued on Monday after the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq notched record closing highs in the previous session on upbeat corporate forecasts, while investors awaited a key inflation report due later this week.
The consumer prices index (CPI) data due on Wednesday is among the last major datasets ahead of the Federal Reserve’s Dec. 17-18 meeting and could influence the central bank’s monetary policy path.
Bets of a 25-basis-point rate cut in December shot up to more than 87%, as data on Friday showed U.S. job growth surged in November after being severely hindered by hurricanes and strikes, but a rise in the unemployment rate to 4.2% pointed to an easing labor market.
“We remain in the December rates cut camp and expect a 25bp cut next week,” economists at Jefferies wrote in a note.
“However, post December meeting, we expect the pace of rates cuts to slow to once a quarter, and we expect the next rates cut to be in March.”
Meanwhile, Citigroup (NYSE:C) revised its December rate cut call to 25-bps versus its prior forecast of 50 bps.
A host of Fed officials including Chair Jerome Powell last week said that the central bank could afford to be more cautious with its monetary policy easing path, given the resilience of the economy.
At 7:13 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 1 point, or 0%, S&P 500 E-minis were down 3.75 points, or 0.06%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were down 38 points, or 0.18%.
Wall Street’s main indexes kicked off December on a broadly positive note, with the benchmark S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq logging gains in their first week, while the Dow ended the week marginally lower.
U.S. equities surged in November as Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential election and his party sweeping both houses of Congress raised expectations of a friendlier policy stance towards companies.
Global markets were also keeping an eye on political developments in Syria, France and South Korea.
Among notable premarket movers, Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) and Apollo Global Management (NYSE:APO) jumped 9% and 6.3%, respectively, on their planned inclusion into the S&P 500 index.
Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) was last down 1.8% after China’s market regulator said it has opened an investigation into the company over suspected violation of the country’s antimonopoly law.
Interpublic Group advanced 14.6% after a report said marketing conglomerate Omnicom was in advanced talks to acquire the advertising company. Omnicom shares were down 5.2%.
U.S.-listed shares of Chinese companies gained after the Chinese Politburo hinted at a shift to looser monetary policy next year and more proactive fiscal policy to spur economic growth. Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) was up 6.1%, PDD Holdings climbed 9.1% and Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU) added 5.3%.
